August Update with an Explosion of Color
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| What’s going on? August is generally the hottest month of the year. You may find yourself asking, what is it we do in the heat and in the midst of summer? Harvesting is usually the task which takes up the majority of our time this season. With rows of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, okra, squash and more which require harvesting every other day, it is common to find “harvest ___” at the top of our to-do list every morning. We also have four to five markets we attend each week so harvesting is always a priority. Besides harvesting though, weeding is a huge task to undertake. Right now the heat and heavy storms are the perfect environment for weeds to grow. With fall crops newly seeded or transplanted, it is important we give them a fighting chance, especially when they’re already battling the heat and pests. Many fall crops are directly seeded such as beets, carrots, turnips, radishes, mighty mix and lettuce mix. If we allow the weeds to grow, they will overtake the fall crops and suffocate them before they even have a chance! This week we did our first weeding of carrots and beets and the second weeding of our turnips and radishes. Arden is keeping a close eye on these baby plants who are at their most fragile state. Other than simple metal tools we can use while standing, we must utilize the most ancient tools for the task: our hands. We were able to use our standing hoes with many of the rows this week, but sometimes when the plants are too tiny to see while standing, such as one of our current carrot plots, the best thing we can do, to keep from killing the crop, is to squat down to eye level and use our hands. |
| CSA Products and News |
| Vegetable Share: Cherry Tomatoes Basil Scallions Eggplant Okra Garlic Carrots Bread Share: Pa de Pages Catalan for “farmer’s bread,” this is the common sourdough baked and consumed in Catalonia, the northeast region of Spain. Our version is made with sifted wheat flour and shaped into a large 1-kilogram boule.A crusty unsliced loaf with a spongy interior. Slicing tip: cut the loaf in half first. Then place a half-loaf face down on the cutting board and slice from the crusty corner of the loaf downward. Ingredients: Wheat flour, water, sourdough starter, salt, malted barley. Net weight 2 lbs. |
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| Peppers coming in hot… and sweet Peppers, whether they be hot or sweet, are the epitome of summer fruit. They bring color and brightness to any home garden or farm stand. Right now we have an explosion of color in our pepper fields. In sweet peppers we have green, yellow, orange, red, white and even purple! Hot peppers are thriving in greens, orange and red. As your browsing our stands, you may notice a few different varieties. While the bell peppers and jalapenos may be easy to identify, the others may leave you scratching your head. Check out our Pepper Guide below to see what we have in stock. Not sure how to use these hot peppers? Don’t be afraid to dry the peppers or make them into a hot salsa to use in small amounts for future dishes! |
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